SOLIDteknics AUS-ION BBQ-kitchen iron Bigga skillet+Deep pot

AU$ 130,518

387

For a lifetime of tough jobs, you need a tough lifetime+ pan.

This is the toughest.

How tough? Wrought from a single sheet of Australian iron into one seamless, indestructible piece. This malleable wrought iron won't crack like cast iron can.

No rivets, welds, screws, or wobbly handles.

No synthetic coatings. No toxins.

No (feasible) heat limits.

No clad/ply layers.

No worries.

So durable, all AUS-ION pans come with a multi-century warranty.

AUS-ION wrought iron in the pit at Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar & Grill. Neil and his chefs wanted us to develop an indestructible mesh flame grilling pan.....so we did!

Our AUS-ION wrought iron pans are already loved by top chefs and home cooks around the world. We're engineers with two decades of expertise developing chef's equipment. We love to BBQ but we're not flame cooking experts, so we listened to the experts to develop our first dedicated open flame pan, the Flaming Skillet in 2016. Grill cooks and chefs love the way it cooks, how it nests in the 26cm skillet for transfer to oven.....and its indestructibility. They also love the way our Aussie wrought iron seasons and cooks the same as cast iron, but weighs half.

They loved it so much that they wanted us to develop more for open flame cooking.....so we got busy!

Prototypes here are close, but not quite final

The prototypes you see above and in video are close to final, though some things will change:

The prototype of 35cm shown here is actually 30cm! That was the only die we had available to make prototypes while we made the huge new die for 35cm. We'll post updated pics when the bigger prototypes are ready.

Handles will change a little: slimmer in width, and bent up into a smoother curve with new dedicated handle dies (rather than the approximate brake press bends shown here).

Limited engraved 'First Edition' for Kickstarter backers only

Like all our Kickstarter campaigns, everyone who pledges for a 35cm Bigga Skillet or 21cm Deep Pot in this campaign will receive a limited edition pan engraved with 'First Edition', and the date of manufacture.

Limited First Edition engraving like this 30cm Wok from a previous Kickstarter campaign, but with different date. We only ever issue First Edition pans for backers of our Kickstarter campaigns.

Not just making pans.....making history

These historic First EditionAUS-ION pans will be treasured by cooks in the days, decades, and centuries to come. Your descendents will be in awe of their rare heirloom pans still cooking in the family in hundreds (thousands?) of years' time. That's why we engrave the date of maufacture on every one.

And, if the seasoning is well maintained, their ancient Aussie pan will still be cooking like new.....and will still be nonstick!

Why do chefs love AUS-ION wrought iron pans so much?

An unbeatable set of performance features, for pro chefs, home cooks, outdoor camp cooks and pit masters!

What do the experts say about AUS-ION?

Note that none of the comments here, on our website or social media are ever 'planted' or sponsored: they are all free and genuine enthusiasm for our new Australian innovation.

What do the home cooks say?

For thousands of comments like these, click here see our Facebook page, and the pages of other top food writers.

Key Rewards

Graphics for visualising the Reward options. See all details in list down right side column of this campaign.

Tip: Go for the sets - they have the biggest savings! Don't need that many? There's no better gift than heirloom cookware for the cooks you love, in our humble opinion. All shipping in time for Christmas!

For the serious pit master, or any lover of open flame cooking. Or some for kitchen, and some gifts for the BBQers in your life

Set for life.....then for many future generations. Pay it forward and pass on this 2017 dated cookware!

Kickstarter #11 BBQ-Kitchen Iron Project Timeline

Now until our November 5 campaign deadline: Finish making and testing final pre-production 35cm and 21cm samples with handle forming dies, to ensure everything is perfect and ready for serious Kickstarter production. Spread the word as wide and fast as possible with the help of our network of VIP bbq, camp, chef and food industry supporters, and the many thousands of happy owners of AUS-ION™ cookware. Hopefully inspire lots of sharing of the Aussie iron love!

After November 5: campaign closed and First Edition 35cm Bigga Skillets and 21cm Deep Pots never available again (available in 2018 as standard retail edition).

December 2017: Shipping of backer rewards commences. Social media and food industry buzzing as the first Rewards are delivered, and new owners cook with them and post their reviews online.

Forever: Humbled and grateful for all our supporters who helped pioneer this new world-leading, healthy, and sustainable Australian cookware industry.

SOLID Conclusion

We launched a whole new cookware industry for Australia when we successfully crowdfunded our first AUSfonte™ cast iron cookware campaign here on Kickstarter in September 2014. That first campaign was followed by 8 more very successful campaigns (4 for AUSfonte™ cast iron, 4 for AUS-ION™ wrought iron), and one for nöni™ stainless steel.

Now Solidteknics is acclaimed by chefs and experts, selling strongly at retail in Australia, exported to the USA, and UK.
Patent pending AUS-ION™ is the only seamless one-piece wrought iron/steel production cookware in the world. Solidteknics' is the only production cookware made in Australia. Every other brand is imported. Most are synthetic-coated, disposable, and now in our landfill...and bloodstreams...

Please tell all your friends that you’ve found the finest iron cookware available today, they're healthy and sustainable, 100% made in Australia, and these new heirloom collectible FIRST EDITION AUS-ION™ pans are only available by pledging here on Kickstarter before the campaign deadline.

Please share and spread the good Aussie iron news to help us make history, not just cookware!

What does Satin pre-seasoned finish mean?

Our Satin finish is NOT an infomercial nonstick coating: it is 'simply' shot peening (shot blasting) of bare iron.....
Not simple in production, but the result is beautiful and functional. After shot peening all AUS-ION™ pans are double pre-seasoned with healthy non-GMO rice bran oil at high temperature.

One of the big advantages of textured cast iron over smooth steel has always been ease of seasoning. It's not easy to get the seasoning to anchor to the smooth steel pans (or some new cast iron skillet brands that are machined down to totally-smooth bare iron).

With shot peening (shot blasting) we found a way to replicate cast iron's ease of seasoning in our lighter AUS-ION™ formed-iron pans. The end result is a luxe satin finish that is pure bliss for seasoning, and for the eye...
The seasoning you can build on Satin is deeper and far more strongly anchored, this makes washing the new Satin pans even easier and less 'patchy'. A real time-saver!

If you're new to seasoning iron.....

We have the engineering expertise

Our founder, mechanical engineer, Mark Henry, has been developing equipment for chefs for two decades . He's also been working to solve the health and durability problems of rivets and synthetic coatings in cookware for just as long. Certainly not easy, but he kept 'failing until he stopped failing' (= succeeded), and launched the pioneering AUS-ION™ seamless wrought iron pans in 2015.

We have the Kickstarter track record

This is our 11th (eleventh!) Kickstarter campaign, after 4 for AUSfonte™cast iron launches, and 5 for AUS-ION™ wrought iron launches, and one for new noni stainless saucepans. Some were huge, and all rewards were shipped as promised to thousands of happy backers all over the world.

We don't say this to be boastful, but to show the depth of support we've so rapidly built in the cooking community.

The Kickstarter funding success certainly has been important for turning our dream for a new world-leading Australian cookware industry into a reality. However, it was our supporters sharing the love that really made Solidteknics successful at retail in Australia, in export to the USA, and now to UK.

Sure, we got the engineering right, but without so many strong supporters we would still only be 'dreamers with prototypes'! That is why we never forget how grateful we are for all your support. Thank you! ♥♥♥

(Re)introducing.....

.....our 9 current AUS-ION™ pans, available at good kitchenware stores and online in Australia, USA, and now UK. That's a lot of Aussie iron love, and already a hit with chefs and home cooks just 2 years after their launch.

6. AUS-ION™ wrought iron 26cm Flaming Skillet. Developed with Neil Perry and his chefs at Rockpool for the ultimate in durable mesh pan for that flame-grilled taste in meats and vegetables. Nests in our standard 26cm Skillet to transfer thick steaks to oven for baking after a quick sear over open flame.

How can Australian-made AUS-ION succeed against all the cheap imports?

Why do we so strongly believe that AUS-ION™ pans are the best chef pans in the world today?

Here's our graphic summary again:

Makes sense, right, so why isn't everyone else doing it?

We know from long engineering experience that it is NOT easy to make a seamless one-piece pan from a single wrought iron sheet. While it could be forged by hand (like the artisans), or fully formed through robotic automation, the investment is so prohibitively high in traditional die tooling and/or labour expense that the final high purchase price would be out of reach for most cooks, and certainly not economical for restaurants.

After decades of wanting to eliminate rivets/welds from steel pans, we found a way to make the processing economically viable by combining the best of modern flexible manufacturing, die production techniques, and good old-fashioned artisanal skill.

Artisanal and innovative, great.....but what technologies, exactly?

Sorry, but we can't reveal the details of each step we take to form the final AUS-ION™ pans from a single sheet of iron, particularly at this early stage. All we will say is we combine 3 key manufacturing methods to arrive at a seamless one-piece pan, and nobody else does.....otherwise they would already exist, because this is so clearly better than rivets, screws, or welds, for hygiene and durability.
We know our competitors are watching with great interest. We're operating under patents pending* for certain aspects of our innovations. To find out which aspects, competitors will need to wait for the full patents to be published......

Shipping 'quirks'

Remember, Kickstarter wasn't set up to be an online retail store, but a place to back creative new projects. One of the quirks is that you don't see shipping costs until after you select your reward and destination, so we wanted to let you know here. If this is your first time on Kickstarter, please see www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/kickstarter+basics

This is our 11th campaign, and you can trust we do know our shipping costs, after many thousands of pledges and shipments to happy backers. However, we are shipping solid iron from a very remote country.....so there are some practical constraints.....

Shipping specifics for this campaign:

Australian backers:

- Australia is one flat fee of $19/pan for the whole country (because Kickstarter doesn't allow us to charge by postcode: just one rate per country), which is a fair average known from our experience with 10 previous Kickstarter campaigns. We actually lose a lot of money when we ship outside of the cities, and make a little when we ship inside cities, and it all balances out to almost exactly zero by the end of the campaign. We use a courier, not Australia Post, so we must deliver to a real home or office address, not a PO Box.

USA Backers:

- If you're in the USA please select United States, not 'Rest of World'. We have lower courier rates to the USA due to the volumes we already ship there.

Rest of World:

- We've chosen an average price for Rest of World, winning on some and losing on many destinations. We reserve the right to not ship to very expensive remote locations, or we’ll give you the option to pay extra to meet the difference to the published Australia Post standard air parcel rate.

Kickstarter is crowdfunding: it is NOT online retail......

Please remember that Solidteknics is a development engineering company, working hard at pioneering a new cookware industry for Australia. We are not an importer, and not a retailer waiting with a warehouse full of generic imports to quickly fill your order. This is much more difficult.

We are well known for reliable delivery after 10 successful Kickstarter campaigns, but there may still be the risk of delayed fulfillment if we encounter unforseen manufacturing challenges. If that is a problem you may prefer to wait for our product to come to retail. They will have better service and often better shipping rates. Our kitchenware stores will have friendly service and no shipping costs if you walk in. They won't have the limited First Satin Edition series though: those are only for Kickstarter backers who have the faith and patience to support our pioneering new product launches and make them viable through crowdfunding here.

If you know us, you will know that we are more interested in solid long-term supporters, not short-term sales figures.

Kickstarter quirks and our SOLIDteknics 'house rules'

The Kickstarter system can be 'quirky' for first-timers. So please first familiarise yourself with the overall Kickstarter method here: https://www.kickstarter.com/hello

It is Kickstarter's system, and we can't change pledges, and nor can we take new orders after the campaign closes. You also really need to read the Kickstarter Updates we send, please. You also must respond to the Kickstarter Survey sent after the campaign closes. It's vital: this is the only time we receive shipping details to deliver your rewards (because we don't see your billing information: only Kickstarter does).

Got specific issues during the campaign?

If you have any problems with the Kickstarter system, please contact them directly. If you have a problem with us, please direct message us through Kickstarter, or email us direct: info at solidteknics dot com

.....please do not run first to post publicly on social media, before giving us a chance to resolve your problem.
That really is needlessly damaging to our fragile little brand, and just.....uncool. We will occasionally make human errors, sure, but you can be certain of our integrity, and you can be certain of our goodwill toward all our backers. We hope the respect will be mutual.

Note: If you do publicly post a troll-like rant designed to damage our reputation, without first giving us the chance to fix your problem in private, your pledge will be immediately cancelled and you will be refunded. We are not interested in taking money from trolls or haters. This is community, not sales. Two very different things.
If you know us, and the massive commitment and investment needed to get to this point, you would know we are not here to make fast money with Kickstarter, or the Solidteknics business itself: we are carefully and patiently building a multi-generation brand based on Australian cookware innovations of multi-century durability. It's about as opposite as you can get to a fast-buck profit-driven import/retail enterprise.....

Now that our ground rules and expectations for reciprocal respect are clear, we very much look forward to many years of making more like-minded friends who are lovers of great food and great local, sustainable, healthy, competitive, innovative cook's equipment.
Thank you for sharing our Australian cookware vision!

Using the AUS-ION Flaming Skillet

Jeff Rogers, USA iron cooking expert:

Transferring to oven to finish baking after searing:

Just don't call him a stiff engineer lol!

Speechless.....!

What an honour to be so highly regarded by one of the world's iron cooking experts, Jeff Rogers, 'The Culinary Fanatic' in the USA. We are blessed!

Where to buy SOLIDteknics products?

Still have concerns?

After reading through, if you have any concerns about anything in this campaign please contact us first via Kickstarter direct message or email info@solidteknics.com .

Please do not run first to social media with a public post before you understand the background. If you knew us you would know we have solid integrity, and we are dedicated to making all our supporters happy. We always give, and expect, mutual respect.

Stay in touch with developments!

With four more patents pending for world-first cook's equipment, we're busy developing a long stream of innovations for launch in coming months and years. The best way to find out about each new launch is to join our Solid Supporters Newsletter here (not used for marketing spam, just major new launch news): http://www.solidteknics.com/contact/

*Patent and Trademark notice:

Solidteknics™, AUS-ION™, AUSfonte™ and nöni™ are trademarks of Solidteknics Pty Ltd and reserved for our exclusive use worldwide. Various innovations in Solidteknics products or product features are protected under utility patents pending. Please do not copy any of our intellectual property.

To be clear: DO NOT COPY SOLIDTEKNICS cookware. The key utility features are protected in all our markets of interest. We defend our hard-earned innovations vigorously.

Compulsory Kickstarter 'risks' section:

Risks and challenges

After a long and intensive development period, 10 (ten!) previous successful Kickstarter campaigns and many production runs, overwhelmingly positive feedback from top chefs, and strong retail sales and exports, SOLIDteknics is becoming established as major multi-generation chef equipment brand.

Though undeniably very hard work, on the scale of products and businesses I’ve launched this is certainly at the low risk end. After decades in the chef equipment industry and a long R&D process, I’m very confident the product is the best it can be - in fact, the best in the world - for all the reasons presented in the project detail.

If our backers allow us reach our target in time, the funds will be quickly applied to the tooling and production costs and we will ship on time (barring 'acts of God'!), as promised. We have a long and proven track record of keeping our promises, and fixing any unexpected issues quickly and thoroughly, with mutual respect.

Apart from all the engineering experience, it is our amazing strong base of passionate supporters who really ensures our success with each campaign (then ongoing retail and export success). We couldn't do it without you, and we are very grateful for all your support.

Engraved with limited 'FIRST EDITION', and date of manufacture, to become a rare family heirloom to pass down through many generations.

Greatly reduced 'Try Me' price for introduction to those who haven't experienced the delights of our Australian wrought iron pans. Eventual retail price expected to be 30% higher in Australia, and double at overseas retailers. Gift yourself or a loved cook a world-leading lifetime+ heirloom this Christmas!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge AU$ 198 or more
About $154

Pair of AUS-ION 21cm (8") deep pans

2 x (two) AUS-ION Satin 21cm (8") Deep pans with dual handles, 3mm thick wrought iron. The perfect pair: use as two pans, or use one as the lid for the other!

Indestructible seamless 1-pc construction with no rivets, welds or seams. Tough! Multi-century warranty, whether used in BBQ, campfire, home or restaurant kitchen.

Engraved with limited 'FIRST EDITION', and date of manufacture, to become a rare family heirloom to pass down through many generations.

Greatly reduced 'Try Me' price for introduction to those who haven't experienced the delights of our Australian wrought iron pans. Eventual retail price expected to be 30% higher in Australia, and double at overseas retailers. Gift yourself or a loved cook a world-leading lifetime+ heirloom this Christmas!

Pledge AU$ 199 or more
About $155

Intro AUS-ION 35cm (14") Bigga Skillet

Indestructible seamless 1-pc construction with no rivets, welds or seams. Tough! Multi-century warranty, whether used in BBQ, campfire, home or restaurant kitchen.

Engraved with limited 'FIRST EDITION', and date of manufacture, to become a rare family heirloom to pass down through many generations.

Greatly reduced 'Try Me' price for introduction to those who haven't experienced the delights of our Australian wrought iron pans. Eventual retail price expected to be 25% higher in Australia, and double at overseas retailers. Gift yourself or a loved cook a world-leading lifetime+ heirloom this Christmas!

1 x existing AUS-ION 26cm Skillet. Our famous 'workhorse' skillet, loved by top chefs and home/outdoor cooks as a great all-rounder. Flaming Skillet nests perfectly inside this skillet for transfer to oven cooking after searing over open flame.